Use the History panel in Dreamweaver to replay and automate steps. Create, use, and save commands from the history steps.

Note:

The History panel is deprecated in Dreamweaver CC 2017 and later.

Task automation

The History panel records the steps you take when you complete
a task. Automate a frequently performed task by replaying those
steps from the History panel or creating a new command that performs
the steps automatically.

Certain mouse movements, such as selecting by clicking in the
Document window, can’t be played back or saved. When you make such
a movement, a black line appears in the History panel (the line
does not become obvious until you perform another action). To avoid
this, use the arrow keys instead of the mouse to move the insertion
point within the Document window

Some other steps also aren’t repeatable, such as dragging a page
element to somewhere else on the page. When you perform such a step,
an icon with a small red X appears in the History panel.

Saved commands are retained permanently (unless you delete them),
while recorded commands are discarded when you exit from Adobe Dreamweaver, and copied sequences of steps
are discarded when you copy something else

Use the History panel

The
History panel (Window > History) shows a list of the
steps you’ve performed in the active document since you created
or opened that document (but not steps you’ve performed in other
frames, in other Document windows, or in the Site panel). Use the
History panel to undo multiple steps at once and to automate tasks.

The
slider, or thumb, in the History panel initially points to the last
step that you performed.

Note:

You can’t rearrange the order
of steps in the History panel. Don’t think of the History panel
as an arbitrary collection of commands; think of it as a way to
view the steps you’ve performed, in the order in which you performed
them.

Undo the last step

Do one of the following:

Select Edit > Undo.

Drag the History panel slider up one step in the list.

Note:

To scroll automatically to a particular step, you must click to the left of the step; clicking the step itself selects the step. Selecting a step is different from going back to that step in your undo history.

Undo multiple steps at once

Drag the slider to point to any step,
or click to the left of a step along the path of the slider.

The slider scrolls automatically to that step, undoing
steps as it scrolls.

Note:

As with undoing a single step, if
you undo a series of steps and then do something new in the document,
you can no longer redo the undone steps; they disappear from the
History panel.

Set the number of steps that the
History panel retains and shows

The default number of steps is sufficient
for most users’ needs. The higher the number, the more memory the
History panel requires, which can affect performance and slow your
computer significantly.

When the History panel reaches this maximum number
of steps, the earliest steps are discarded.

Erase the history list for the
current document:

In the History panel’s context menu,
select Clear History.

This command also clears all undo information for the current
document; after choosing Clear History, you can’t undo the steps
that are cleared. Clear History does not undo steps; it merely removes
the record of those steps from memory.

Repeat steps

Use the History panel to repeat the last step
you performed, repeat a series of adjacent steps, or repeat a series
of nonadjacent steps. Replay the steps directly from the History
panel.

Repeat one step

Do one of the following:

Select Edit > Redo.

In the History panel, select a step and click the
Replay button. The step is replayed and a copy of it appears in
the History panel.

Repeat a series of steps

Select steps in the History panel:

To select adjacent steps, drag from one step to another (don’t drag the slider; just drag from the text label of one step to the text label of another step), or select the first step, and then Shift-click the last step.

To select nonadjacent steps, select a step, and then Control‑click (Windows) or Command-click (Macintosh) to select or deselect other steps.

The steps played are the selected (highlighted) steps, not necessarily the step the slider currently points to.

Note:

Although you can select a series of steps that includes a black line indicating a step that can’t be recorded, that step is skipped when you replay the steps.

Click Replay.

The steps are replayed in order, and a new step, Replay
Steps, appears in the History panel.

Make or extend a selection

Hold down the Shift key while pressing
an arrow key.

Note:

If a black mouse-movement indicator line
appears while you’re performing a task you want to repeat later,
you can undo back to before that step and try another approach,
perhaps using the arrow keys.

Apply steps in the History panel
to objects

You can apply a set of steps from the History
panel to any object in the Document window.

If you select
multiple objects and then apply steps to them from the History panel,
the objects are treated as a single selection and Dreamweaver attempts to apply the steps to
that combined selection; however, you can apply a set of steps only
to a single object at a time.

To apply the steps to each object
in a set of objects, you must make the last step in the series select
the next object in the set. The second procedure demonstrates this
principle in a specific scenario: setting the vertical and horizontal spacing
of a series of images.

Apply steps to one other object

Select the object.

Select the relevant steps in the History panel, and click
Replay.

Apply steps to multiple objects

Start with a document in which each
line consists of a small image (such as a graphical bullet or an
icon) followed by text.

The goal is to set the images off from the text and from
the other images above and below them.

Each line consists of a small image

Open the Property inspector (Window > Properties),
if it isn’t already open.

Select the first image.

In the Property inspector, enter numbers in the V Space
and H Space boxes to set the image’s spacing.

Click the image again to make the Document window active
without moving the insertion point.

Press the Left Arrow key to move the insertion point
to the left of the image.

Press the Down Arrow key to move the insertion point
down one line, leaving it just to the left of the second image in
the series.

Press Shift+Right Arrow to select the second image.

Note:

Do not select the image by clicking it, or you won’t
be able to replay all the steps.

In the History panel, select the steps that correspond
to changing the image’s spacing and selecting the next image. Click
Replay to replay those steps.

Click Replay to replay steps

The
current image’s spacing changes, and the next image is selected.

Current image's spacing changes

Continue to click Replay until all the images are spaced
correctly.

Copy and paste steps between documents

Each open document
has its own history of steps. You can copy steps from one document
and paste them into another.

Closing a document clears its
history. If you know you will want to use steps from a document
later, copy or save the steps before you close the document.

In the document containing the steps you want
to reuse, select the steps in the History panel.

Click Copy Steps in the History panel .

Note:

The Copy Steps button in the History panel is different
from the Copy command in the Edit menu. You can’t use Edit >
Copy to copy steps, although you do use Edit > Paste
to paste them.

Be careful when you copy steps that include
a Copy or a Paste command:

Don’t use Copy Steps if
one of the steps is a Copy command; you may not be able to paste
such steps the way you want.

If your steps include a Paste command, you can’t paste those
steps, unless the steps also include a Copy command before the Paste
command.

Open the other document.

Place the insertion point where you want it, or select
an object to apply the steps to.

Select Edit > Paste.

The steps are played back as they’re pasted into the document’s
History panel. The History panel shows them as only one step, called
Paste Steps.

If you pasted steps into a text editor or into
Code view or the Code inspector, they appear as JavaScript code.
This can be useful for learning to write your own scripts.

Create and use commands from history
steps

Save
a set of history steps as a named command, which then becomes available in
the Commands menu. Create and save a new command if you might use
a set of steps again, especially the next time you start Dreamweaver.

Create a command

Select a step or set of steps in the
History panel.

Click the Save As Command button,
or select Save As Command from the History
panel’s context menu.

Enter a name for the command and click OK.

The command appears in the Commands menu.

Note:

The
command is saved as a JavaScript file (or sometimes an HTML file)
in your Dreamweaver/Configuration/Commands folder. If you are using Dreamweaver on a multiuser operating system,
the file is saved in the specific user’s Commands folder.

Use a saved command

Select an object to apply the command
to, or place the insertion point where you want to apply the command.

Select the command from the Commands menu.

Edit a command name

Select Commands > Edit Command
List.

Select a command to rename, enter a new name for it,
and then click Close.

Delete a name from the Commands
menu

Select Commands > Edit Command
List.

Select a command.

Click Delete, and then click Close.

Record and save commands

Record a temporary command for short-term
use, or record and save a command to use later. Dreamweaver retains only one recorded command
at a time; as soon as you start recording a new command, the old
command is lost, unless you save it before recording the new command.